World Drug Report 2024:
The United Nations (UN) agency tackling crime and drug abuse (UNODC) released its annual World Drug Report recently.
Highlights of the Report:
- The number of people who use drugs has risen to 292 million in 2022, a 20 percent increase over the past ten years.
- Cannabis remains the most widely used drug worldwide (228 million users), followed by opioids (60 million users), amphetamines (30 million users), cocaine (23 million users) and ecstasy (20 million users).
- Nitazenes, a group of highly potent synthetic opioids, have recently emerged in several high-income countries, resulting in an increase in overdose deaths.
- Though an estimated 64 million people worldwide suffer from drug use disorders, only one in 11 is in treatment.
- Women receive less access to treatment than men, with only one in 18 women with drug use disorders in treatment versus one in seven men.
- In 2022, an estimated 7 million people were in formal contact with the police (arrests, cautions, and warnings) for drug offences, with about two-thirds of this total due to drug use or possession for use.
- In addition, 7 million people were prosecuted for drug offences and over 1.6 million were convicted globally in 2022.
